Opinion: MMA needs a more ‘colorful’ scoring system for judges

Everyone knows the current system of judging MMA fights doesn’t work but no one has proposed anything better. Until now.

There is no doubt that judging is a problem in MMA. Sometimes it seems a week can’t go by without an event where some inconceivable and outrageous decision for a fight is announced. While it would be easy to blame it all on incompetent judges the real reason lies with the fact that the scoring system used for mixed martial art was never designed to be used for mixed martial arts.

MMA judging is done under the 10-point must system, which was borrowed from the already established sport of boxing. While it has done an adequate job for the sweet science, thanks in large part to that sport’s punching only aspect, it has proven incapable of properly scoring an MMA fight. Understandable when one considers that in addition to punches, that are also found in boxing, competitors can also kick and use submission holds, not just standing but also in the clinch and on the ground. Throw in the fact that decisions have to be rendered after only 3 or 5 rounds in MMA compared to the 10 to 12 rounds found in sanctioned boxing matches and it’s nothing short of a miracle that this criteria has worked as well as it has over the years.

It is easy enough to say that the 10-point must system must go, but without a better system to replace the one we have our complaints mean very little.  Fortunately, I believe I have come up with a better system – one that came to me halfway through a Widespread Panic concert –  and that properly represents the wide range of possibilities that should be considered when scoring an MMA match.

My solution calls for the complete scrapping of the current and much maligned 10-point must system and starting anew with a system of scoring designed specifically for the three-dimensional chess that is MMA. Here then is my color spectrum scoring criteria for MMA judging.

The system is simple. Instead of using the current system, which is governed under the tyranny of numbers where the winner of a round is given an automatic 10-points and the loser 9 (or sometimes, rarely 8) we instead use a scoring mechanism that is more based on the emotional reasoning that are colors. Judges would no longer award a fighter that eked out a ho hum round and another fighter that won a barnburner the same 10-points but would instead award the offensive output of each fighter irrespective of what his opponent’s performance.

A fighter would thus be judged solely on their offensive output for each round of the bout. The scoring would be as follows:

RED = an incredible amount of offense. More than 90% of the round spent attacking.

YELLOW = very active offensively

BLUE = more than usual offensive output

ORANGE = typical offensive effort

GREEN = some offense, less than usual

INDIGO = very little offense for the round

VIOLET = basically no offense for the entire round

WHITE = foul deduction

For an example of how this would work imagine a fight where Fighter A has an incredible first round, being active and throwing and connecting with strikes or going for submission attempt after submission attempt for almost the entire five rounds, followed by two rather inactive rounds. His opponent in turn, Fighter B, not only survives the onslaught of Fighter A’s first round but manages an average amount of offense in return. This is followed by an average second round (which is still more than his Fighter A can muster that round) and then finished off with a rather inactive third.

Under the 10-point must system it is conceivable that Fighter A would win the first round 10-9 because Fighter B managed a decent amount of offense even though his opponent did much more. Round 2  in turn would be a 10-9 round for Fighter B because he produced slightly more offense than Fighter A. Finally, round 3 would be scored a tie. Thus the fight would be scored a draw even though overall Fighter A produced much more offense throughout the fight.

Under color spectrum scoring though this difference in total offense would not be ignored. The judges would no longer be slaves to the numbered madness of the 10-point must but have the entire spectrum of visible colors at their disposal! Each of the rounds would be scored as follows:

Fighter A

Round 1: Red

Round 2: Indigo

Round 3: Blue

Fighter B

Round 1: Green

Round 2: Green

Round 3: Blue

Judges would score each round using their official color palette and commission paint brushes, then, at the conclusion of the contest, they would mix the rounds together to get the final result. In this case the match would be scored magenta for Fighter A and cyan for fighter B, giving us a clear victor instead of the confusion one finds with the current system.

It’s really as simple as it sounds. Results would therefore be readily understood by everyone, leading to less protests by fighters and less frustration by fans. I can even envision stagehands at shows using colored gels to beam a spotlight on the victories fighter, enveloping him in his winning color.

The one drawback would be that some sort of special consideration would have to be arranged for any color-blind judge that works a match. This should be little problem though considering the fact that they were still used for UFC events event before the black-and-white Reebok outfits made it possible for them to distinguish the difference between two combatants.

I have already hand written and mailed a detailed plan of my color spectrum judging system to the Athletic Commissions of Nevada, New Jersey, California, and Wyoming and anxiously await their acceptance of this greatly improved methodology. Hopefully, it can be in place before UFC 200 so that a great event isn’t marred by poor judging as well.